


casters

by goldavn



Series: compatible casters [1]
Category: HOTSHOT (Band), Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Magic, casters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-05-31 08:26:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15115592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldavn/pseuds/goldavn
Summary: seoul is the magic capital of the world - it's where everyone goes to learn the ropes of their powers and more importantly where some individuals find their compatible casters. ha sungwoon has never been able to use his magic before because he has not found his caster yet... that is until one day ong seongwoo comes along and changes everything.





	casters

**Author's Note:**

> thanks to the mods for holding this wonderful fest!
> 
> i have to admit, there is a different version of this story that i had planned out but was too pressed for time to go down the original road. maybe some time in the future i will rewrite it with my original vision, but for now i hope you can enjoy this story put together for sungwoon and ong. may you have a great day and enjoy the pieces in this fest ☆

_ 2005 _

 

It’s becoming a common occurrence – Sungwoon not being able to perform magic. It makes him wonder if the doctors made a mistake when they classed him as a caster, changing his life forever.

 

From a young age, the children of Seoul are tested to see if their blood holds a mutation that will develop and enables them to perform magic – these individuals are known as ‘Casters’.

 

Casters are people who when linked to someone compatible, they are able to perform all sorts of everyday and extreme magic. Compatibility is uncommon, and usually are siblings or close friends. Lovers, on the other hand, are rare to develop compatibility as there are a number of informalities that could arise from this happening.  To control the use of the casters abilities, once they have found their compatible caster and have turned sixteen, they are paired together to live in university like dorms and attend college that is more like a magical society where they are taught the ways of casters.

 

Sungwoon still doesn’t understand the entirety of what it means to be a caster – but he knows that most of the children in his class that are casters, have already found their compatibles.

 

The boy next to him rolls his eyes as Sungwoon breathes out, already knowing that nothing is going to happen. The teacher motions for them to start, pointing to the apple in front of him.

 

“Remember to concentrate. Put all your energy into the apple,” the teacher instructs. The boy next to him is focused, whereas Sungwoon is the complete opposite. They stand there for minutes, focusing on the apple with everyone in the room watching. It doesn’t take long for the other boy to give up, the teacher scolding him.

 

“I’m not the one who can’t perform magic! I already have my caster.” The kid huffs, sitting next to his said caster on the floor. The teacher looks seldom, telling all the other kids to leave for lunch early. Everyone except Sungwoon.

 

She sits next to him on the floor where he has resulted in a pile of snot and tears. She rubs his back as he cries, feeling regret and guilt even though it’s out of her reach.

 

“I’m never going to be able to cast, will I?” Sungwoon asks. His eyes are bloodshot, face smeared with boogers, and his heart not far from crushed.

 

“Sungwoon, listen. You will, we just haven’t found the right person yet. I didn’t find my caster until I was twenty years old.” Sungwoon stops crying, eager to hear his teacher out with wide eyes focused only on her.

 

“When you find your caster, everything will fall into place.”

 

_ 2018 _

 

Thursday afternoons are usually quiet, which is why they are Sungwoon’s favourite. Even though he usually has his office cubicle to himself, it makes all the more difference if the office itself is less noisy than what it usually is.

 

But this particular Thursday is different, especially when Sungwoon’s boss appears in the doorway of his cubicle. Sungwoon is busy scrolling through Naver, which is what he usually does when he first arrives in the office. His blissful scrolling is interrupted when he senses a presence behind him, causing him to nearly spill his iced vanilla latte all over his workspace. His boss, Mr Noh, is standing in the cubicle entrance and surprisingly he doesn’t seem annoyed that Sungwoon hadn’t actually been doing any work.

 

“Have you been having a good morning so far, Sungwoon?” Mr Noh asks. It isn’t hard to tell that his boss is distracted – he keeps tapping his foot and glancing at the watch wrapped around his wrist.

 

“I guess. Is there something you would like me to do this morning?” Sungwoon asks, standing from his seat. Mr Noh, or Taehyun as his most trusted employees call him, can’t stop glancing into the hallway – it’s clear that the man is all sorts of distracted.

 

“Mr Noh?” Sungwoon tries again, choosing to reach out and tap the mans shoulder. He jumps, and laughs shortly after, his hand covering his chest.

 

“Sorry Sungwoon, I’m expecting… ah! There he is.” Sungwoon peers his head out of the cubicle and down to where Mr Noh was greeting someone. Sungwoon pulls himself back, quickly looking around.

_God, this is it. I’m getting fired. They longer want me here. I’m of no use._ It doesn’t take much for Sungwoon to think of all the worst possible possibilities – all of which turn out to be incorrect.

 

Mr Noh is ushering someone into the cubicle. The man is young – like Sungwoon – and carrying a medium sized cardboard box which seems to be holding… _belongings?_

 

“Sungwoon, meet your new co-worker. Ong Seongwoo, this is Ha Sungwoon.”

 

 ~~The other young man~~ Seongwoo gingerly holds out an arm to Sungwoon, and they awkwardly shake hands. Mr Noh informs Sungwoon that he is to show Seongwoo some of the basics but other than that he is to then get on with his usual tasks.

 

Seongwoo places his box on top of the empty desk in the cubicle, before wiping sweat from his brow. Sungwoon, to be honest, has no idea where to start – and he isn’t exactly the most qualified person to show him all of the things Mr Noh expects him to.

 

“So, how long have you worked here?” Seongwoo asks, breaking the silence in the air. Sungwoon has to think for a moment, it’s been so long since he started here… perhaps “Five years? I think.”

 

Seongwoo begins emptying out his belongings, and a certain book catches his eye. ‘ _Casters: everything you need to know before it’s your time’._

This discovery could lead to two outcomes; either Seongwoo has no compatible and has been paired with Sungwoon to test the waters, or he has a caster but for an unknown reason the two have been separated.

 

Seongwoo catches his gaze and realises the book is showing, and his hands are quick to tuck it away into one of the drawers. Sungwoon shakes it off and decides to let him unpack, without his eyes which seem to be finding things Seongwoo doesn’t want him to know about.

 

Sungwoon clears his throat, scratches forehead and decides to just get on with it. He shows Seongwoo how to maneuver his way around the computer system and the basic filing system, all of which Seongwoo picks up quicker than other employees including Sungwoon had. Other than Sungwoon’s words of instruction, Seongwoo didn’t talk much, only mumbling a few words here and there. After he was finished showing him the basics he decided he would call it a day and get on with his own work leaving Seongwoo to his own devices.

 

✧ ✧ ✧

 

Sungwoon makes the walk home just in time as the storm clouds start bucketing down what seems like endless amounts of rain. He unpacks, boils the kettle and settles himself in front of the window which overlooks the rest of the apartment blocks on his street. Routine – that’s all Sungwoon has known for the past twenty-four years and even though he lives by it, he’s tired of it. Day in and day out he attends work and the casting system university, all to learn about things that he can’t put to use in his own day to day life.

 

Yes, he’s lonely.

 

Yes, he’s frustrated.

 

It doesn’t make sense for him to be attending school like other casters when he can’t perform any type of magic. And it’s all because of a fucking mutation in his blood. He’s lost in the oasis of apartments and he can barely hear his phone vibrating on the table. He glances at the object and a voice inside his head is urging him to pick it up, even though he really, _really_ doesn’t want to.

 

He holds the phone up to his air and the familiar voice of the university dean prickles on his earlobe.

 

“Hello Sungwoon, We have some great news for you.”

 

“Oh, really?”

 

“Yes. We have finally got a roommate for you –“

 

Everything else said becomes a blur and Sungwoon can only make out a few of the major details until the phone goes dead and he can feel the ringing that is in his ears.

 

_A roommate? After so many years of having no-one at all?_

 

“Maybe this will be your lucky break.”

 

 _Well, he fucking hopes so._ Even though Seoul is made up with a quarter of the population being casters, only half of those casters have actually met their compatible partner. Once you test positive for the mutation you are selling your soul to the system and there’s no way out. Sungwoon is terrified of having a roommate but there is a stabbing feeling of intrigue that maybe this person could be the one.

 

Apparently, Sungwoon is to stay home from his work placement to greet the new roommate and there is no chance of rescheduling the move in – the dean has already advised Taehyun on the decision that has been made. It feels so sudden to Sungwoon after years of the same old same old, and to know be thrown into a whole new set of routines and instructions that come with having a roommate in the casting system. You do everything together, anything and everything to try and see if there is a spark. Apparently when you and your caster make a bond, it’s like a firework display except without the loud music and more fairy lights involved.

 

Sungwoon just hopes that this is all for nothing.

 

✧ ✧ ✧

 

Regardless of the fact Sungwoon was gaining a roommate, he still slept in well past ten in the morning, with hopes of gaining an hour or two of more sleep after his morning glass of water.

 

After gulping down the whole glass, he finds his feet taking him back to the comforts of his bed when hears a knock on the door – he can kiss his extra hour's sleep goodbye. With wild bed hair and fluffy slipper on his feet, he answers the door to… Seongwoo?

 

“Seongwoo?”

 

“I guess you’re my new roomie?” Seongwoo says, his voice as light and airy as it had been yesterday, but Sungwoon also notices there is an added depth to it.

 

 

“I guess you are… Here let me uh, help?” The two of them start pulling in Seongwoo’s belongings in from the moving truck, and thankfully that included absolutely no furniture – just boxes and boxes of home decorations and clothing.

 

Seongwoo seems more relaxed compared to the previous morning and perhaps it’s because he and Sungwoon are both relieved that they aren’t learning to live with a complete stranger.

 

They place the last of Seongwoo’s things in the spare room and Sungwoon thinks it’s respectful enough to give the space he needs to unpack and make the room actually seem like his own.

 

He decides to put on something for the two of them to eat – he wouldn’t be a very hospitable roommate if he didn’t do a simple thig like making dinner the first night his new roommate arrived.

 

He made a simple meat dish, with lots of sides and a few beers laid out on the table. When Seongwoo finally moves out of his room, Sungwoon can see he has taken a shower and envies the way his wet hair looks attractive against his forehead.

 

“I could smell this from the shower,” Seongwoo heaves in the smell of the food and looks like he’s just about ready to scoff it all down in one go. They say a small prayer and start eating, the only noise being the slurping and chewing of the aromatic food laid out on the table.

 

“So, why are you my roommate? I don’t mean it in a mean way or anyth-“

 

“I don’t have a compatible.”

 

It was obvious. The book, the moving in, casters just don’t decide to move in with a non-caster and hope they can have two compatibles – the mutation doesn’t work that way.

 

“Well… neither do it. I suppose they’re hoping for us to match?”

 

“That would be nothing but a miracle.” Seongwoo chuckles as he eats his food and Sungwoon can tell that this young man shares the same pain as him.

 

Sungwoon himself doesn’t really get to hold many close friendships or relationships with many others due to the school's policy. But there is something about Seongwoo that seems so… damaged… that he can relate to and want to know more about.

 

 

✧ ✧ ✧

 

After a night spent unpacking, cleaning and eating they finally both retire to their own rooms and instead of a peaceful nights sleep, they are both plagued with endless thoughts and weird nightmares. Neither Seongwoon or Sungwoon know that one another are experiencing the same thing, but can both agree that they look trashed when they meet one another in the kitchen. Seongwoo had already prepared breakfast for them, and what is sitting on the table for Sungwoon makes him stop dead in his tracks.

 

Seongwoo, busy eating his cereal on the couch is ignorant to Sungwoon’s reaction. Sitting on the table is banana on toast, accompanied by a steaming mug of black coffee. There is no way Sungwoon had told him what he eats last night, let alone how Seongwoo would know not to fully cook the toast.

 

“How did you know?” Sungwoon asks, taking a small bite of the meal. Seongwoo turns around from his spot on the couch, looking confused.

 

“Know what?”

 

Sungwoon points to the toast and Seongwoo shrugs. Sungwoon nods slowly, not really wanting to press the matter – it was a nice gesture after all – and continues to silently eat the meal Seongwoo had made for him.

 

_Weird._

 

✧ ✧ ✧

 

 

After a few days, Sungwoon can see that Seongwoo has somewhat adjusted to the new home environment, and they’d gotten into a routine of watching the tv together after they both return home from a tiring day of classes or work. Seongwoo is normally the first one home, and on this occasion, it was no different.

 

When Sungwoon arrives he usually takes his bag and unpacks in his room, opting to change into some comfier most of the time while he’s in there. When he leaves his room on this day, he walks into the lounge and finds that Seongwoo had left to his own room.

 

When Sungwoon flops down onto the couch, kicking his feet up on the table, he almost sends a bowl flying from the coffee table onto the floor.

 

He leans over to see what was inside the bowl that Seongwoo must have left lying there. Inside are a bunch of cherries, Sungwoon’s favourite snack.

 

Maybe there is a connection between them and Sungwoon just hasn’t been able to see it. Maybe this is the chance, the moment he had been waiting for since he found out he was a caster. Has he finally found his compatible?

 

He slowly moves from his spot on the couch, and wanders towards Seongwoo’s room where the door is open just a creak. He can see that he is reading a book on his bed, and Sungwoon tries to come up with a game plan.

 

What if he is just being silly and Seongwoo isn’t his compatible? That would be a really awkward turn of events because of Sungwoon’s lack of knowledge on the subject.

He makes his way into the room and Seongwoo sends him a smile.

 

“Did you eat all the cherries already?” he asks.

 

Sungwoon sighs. “No, actually. I didn’t realise what they were until I nearly kicked them over.”

 

Seongwoo laughs. “Classic Sungwoon,” he says, reaching out to tickle his arm. Sungwoon holds himself back, biting his lip.

 

“What’s up?” Seongwoo is sitting up now having noticed Sungwoon’s apprehension.

 

“There’s something I’d like to discuss with you. I don’t really know how to start either,” Sungwoon begins. Seongwoo’s eyes soften and he motions for Sungwoon to sit down, making them both cross-legged on the bed.

 

“I think we might be thinking about the same thing,” Seongwoo finally replies. Sungwoon’s eyes widen as he realises Seongwoo had been feeling the same vibes he had been.

 

Before he knows it, he is inching his fingers towards Seongwoo’s and in return he is doing the same. By the time their fingertips touch, and their fingers interlock, the space around them is filled with blue and red light. It glows as they strengthen their grip on one another, the intensity of the light building farther.

 

“Have we… are we…”

 

“Casters, Sungwoon. We’re compatible.”

 

They have glimmers of hope in their eyes, something they haven’t felt had for the longest of times, and next to it are those beautiful colours – changing their eye colour from the original brown they shared.

 

“We’re compatible Sungwoon.” Seongwoo has his eyes set on him, and the colours shining between them set in stone the feeling Seongwoo had had from day one deep down. Sungwoon was his compatible and he wouldn’t want any other person. With Sungwoon it’s like he doesn’t have to ask or say anything and they understand exactly what the other is saying.

 

This is what life with a compatible is going to be like.

 

✧ ✧ ✧

**Author's Note:**

> here are some links to my [writing twt,](https://twitter.com/goldavnao3) [stan twt,](https://twitter.com/jisungverse) and my [cc](https://curiouscat.me/jisungversecc) for any of you who are interested ☆
> 
> p.s - now i have been revealed (yes, hi hello, em here) i thought i'd let you know there is a rewrite and part 2 on its way - making this a three part series!


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